Day 2.
We make plans to travel as far as is prudent, northward, keeping the tides in mind and leave around 8:30 am. The day promises to be nice, not the gray day that we traveled under the day previous.
After rounding Cape Johnson, we tarry around the tide pools, looking to see what the receding tide has deposited, jumping and clambering from rock to rock, with a lot of care. One false step here, and going down on these barnacle encrusted rocks with bare legs will be like running a cheese grater over exposed skin. The advantage, of course, is that it does give your boots a much better purchase than the slick, and wet seaweed that is prevalent.
As we continue our northward trek, our hike is accompanied by the sounds of small crabs skittering off of rocks, frantically hurrying from our path. The constant shell on rock rasping reminds me of walking into a roach infested house, and turning the lights on.The sound the critters make of scurrying from the revealing light, reminds me of the sounds the crabs make, and the entire time we walk among the tide pool denizens, I cannot shake this image from my mind.
Wanting to see more of the coastline, we push on, and, all along the way, there are rock islands poking up out of the ocean, right off the coastline, adding to the rugged beauty that is evident here.
The many rock formations, along with the rocky shoreline, give it a much different look and feel than the rest of the Washington coast, much more eye catching and compelling, as you are never sure just what it will look like around the next bend. Along the way, we keep hearing the loud cries of Bald Eagles, but never really good a good glimpse of them, until about an hour and a half later, we see a large rock with four or five of the majestic raptors perched in the trees topping a large rock off the coastline.
It appears they’re feeding off of something in the tide pools, but we never get close enough to see what it is. After passing Jagged Island, to our left, we reach a decision point. The map shows that it is only safe to cross this point at a 4ft tide, or less, and according to the tide chart, it appears that it’s on its way back in.
The map shows an overland route, and after crossing around the point, we make our decision. Russ’s knee is really bothering him, and it will be too painful for him to climb up and over the overland route, not being able to flex his sore joint. We head for camp, hoping that his leg will not fail him. It ends up being a good decision, as we beat the tides back to camp, and getting back at 3, or so, allows us to soak up our good fortune in sunshine.
…We wander down a little closer to the beach, to participate fully in the act of people watching, perched on the driftwood logs that offer a perfect vantage point…
How amazed we are, at the fact that it is sunny, around 72 or so, with hardly a breeze! A great opportunity to sunbathe, and take in a nap. Very relaxing!!! And, oh yeah, Dave put on lots and lots of sunscreen…
As it’s Memorial day weekend, we are glad that we have our sites already, as we watch the little bands of people make their way by our campsite, looking for that perfect place to pitch their tent. We wander down a little closer to the beach, to participate fully in the act of people watching, perched on the driftwood logs that offer a perfect vantage point.
…Imagine our surprised looks when an older guy, probably in his 60’s, sporting a white beard, strolls by with…An ice ax? And, wearing a white hard hat???
It’s amazing, if you sit in one place long enough, you can see the whole world go by…Some, more amazing than others…Imagine our surprised looks when an older guy, probably in his 60’s, sporting a white beard, strolls by with…An ice ax? And, wearing a white hard hat??? Yep, that’s right! It was sunny and warm, and if I was wearing that hard hat, I can guarantee you that my brain would have been poached, sunny side up! As for the ice ax??? Well, on this you can bank, we came up with many possible scenarios.
As the tide of people, and ocean, grew, the running commentary caused us all to laugh out loud, and I’m sure that to anyone within ear shot we sounded every bit like a pack of wild hyenas…You see, as the tide came in, it made the point just south of us, more treacherous to pass, and they were forced to do so on the large boulders that sat at the base of the cliffs, instead of the easier way, closer to the beach.
This we watched with interest, as they negotiated their way around. You could see that some did not approach this with any kind of relish, and we naturally, tried our best to think, out loud, about what direction the conversation might be headed, by the obvious body language we could see from our observation point.
…I’m pretty sure the look that I saw on her face, told me that his sleeping arrangements in the weeks to come were about to change, or, at best, he might want to hide all the sharp instruments once they got to camp…
And, as the group made their way by our review stand, we were not disappointed. Usually, the ones that struggled crossing the log and boulder obstacle course would lag behind when they passed our camp, and if the couple was married, I’m pretty sure the look that I saw on her face, told me that his sleeping arrangements in the weeks to come were about to change, or, at best, he might want to hide all the sharp instruments once they got to camp…
Really, we did try and hide our glee until after the doomed passed out of earshot…It continued like this till around 6:00, or so, and then, with a sigh, we figured the entertainment for the evening would have to switch gears, so we made our dinner, and a fire.
Did I say fire? I meant a bonfire, an emergency beacon, a point of light that I’m sure must have been visible from the dark recesses of space. Seems that the competitive juices must have been flowing, as several fires had been started along the beach, and, well…In the immortal words of Tim “the toolman” Taylor….”More Power!!!”
We did our best to make sure that those with an anemic fire would not be without light for the evening, nor heat, as we ended up having to move back 15 feet from the blast furnace that we had just unleashed in order to keep our hides from roasting…If only we had brought our glass blowing rods, we might have been able to fashion glassware, as we certainly had an abundance of sand and heat…
As the sun went down, it left behind a pretty sunset, with lots of pink and red, and we turned in around 11:00…We might have gone to bed earlier, except for the fact that the fire still raged until after 10:00…